Comments on: Strasburg’s strikeouts

By: Kahuna Tuna

Kahuna Tuna — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:10 +0000

Feller's strikeout numbers from 1936, his rookie season, kind of sneak up on you. His first six big-league appearances were in relief. He struck out 15 in his first start, a complete-game victory over the Browns. Then he lost starts against the Red Sox and Yankees, striking out a combined seven in six innings. That's 22 strikeouts in his first three starts — good, though nothing special. However, in career starts four and five, he struck out 10 against St. Louis and 17 against Philadelphia. So, after his first five starts, he had struck out 49 batters. Score did even better, with 51 K's in his first five starts. DeLeon had the highest five-start strikeout total of any of the pitchers on Andy's list: 43.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:26:12 +0000

We cannot explicitly search for most strikeouts in first 3 games as the PI is not set up that way. But, as you can see from the last line of my original post, I believed that Strasburg had the record. By searching for pitchers with at least, say, 5 strikeouts in each of their first 3 games, I can then sort through the 3-game totals for that group and see who has the most (Strasburg.) But this leaves open the possibility that someone got, say, 15, 15, and 3 in his first 3 games. This mythical person wouldn't make the list of 5 in each of the first 3 games but would have 33 over their first 3 games.

By: Gerry

Gerry — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:07:39 +0000

Elias says Strasberg's 32 strikeouts in his first three starts is the post-1900 record, beating J R Richard's 29. http://espn.go.com/espn/elias?date=20100619

By: Frank Clingenpeel

Frank Clingenpeel — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:08:00 +0000

I just continue to pray that this kid doesn't burn out; because if je doesn't, he might just make us forget both Feller and Koufax.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:47:47 +0000

He obviously has the highest K's per 9 innings too after his first 3 games too.

By: DavidRF

DavidRF — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:06:39 +0000

Richard only K-ed 5 in his second start and Spooner only struck out 1. In start four, Richard didn't retire a batter (3BB 1H) while Spooner struck out six. This might be more appropriate for the other thread, but can you do a "most K's first three starts" type of search? That would be the easiest way to track this type of record going forward.